Teaching Health Care Policy: Using Panel Debate to Teach Residents About the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

INTRODUCTION: The debate format has been infrequently used in resident education. We used the panel debate format as a tool to improve health care professionals' knowledge of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). METHODS: Six physical medicine and rehabilitation resident physician debaters led a 60-minute panel debate about the PPACA. Outcome measures included a survey of the spectators with validated questions on physician attitudes towards health care reform in the US and open-ended questions regarding Americans' views on the US health care system. RESULTS: Twenty-nine physician and nonphysician faculty and staff participated as spectators. Responses to the questions on attitudes toward reform of the health care system indicated that zero spectators rated the current US health care system (i.e., the PPACA) as “Excellent,” 25% rated it as “Good,” 42% “Average,” 25% “Poor,” and 8% “Failing.” Half of the respondents indicated they support a US president who advocates making the US health care system more like those of other countries. The majority of respondents (89%) expressed the idea that the US does not have the best health care system in the world. DISCUSSION: Approaching a topic as broad as health care reform with the debate format promoted knowledge, reflection, and interaction with both the opposing debaters and audience.